up in a room. Once, however, the animal
escaped, and followed the father to the church,
where, silently mounting the sounding-board
above the pulpit, he lay perfectly still till the
sermon commenced. He then crept to the
edge, and overlooking the preacher, imitated
all his gestures in so grotesque a manner,
that the whole congregation were unavoidably
urged to laugh. The father, surprised and
confounded at this ill-timed levity, severely
rebuked their inattention. The reproof
failed in its effect; the congregation still
laughed, and the preacher, in the warmth of
his zeal, redoubled his vociferations and
actions; these the ape imitated so exactly,
that the congregation could no longer restrain
themselves, but burst out into a loud and
continued laughter." Of course a friend
stepped up to acquaint the preacher with
the existence of a second person above the
sounding-board, co-operating with him
zealously. And of course the culprit was taken
out by the servants of the church with a face
expressive of insulted innocence.

There was a dog trained to run on errands
for his master, who was trotting home one
evening along a bye-road, with a basket
containing hot pies for his master's supper, when
two highwaymen dogs burst out upon him,
and while he dogfully fought one, the other
burglariously broke into his basket. The
dog who was waylaid saw instantly that
fighting would not save the pies; the pies
must go, and it resolved itself into a question
who should eat them. He at once gave up
his contest with the adversary; if the pies
were to be eaten—among dogs, at least—his
right was the best, so he immediately darted
on the basket and devoured all that remained.

A story of an elephant again comes to the
surface. At Macassar, an elephant-driver
had a cocoa-nut given him, which he wantonly
struck twice against the elephant's forehead
to break it. The next day they were passing
by some cocoa-nuts in the street exposed for
sale. The elephant took up one, and began to
knock it on the driver's head; the result,
unhappily, was fatal. Elephants commonly
discriminate so well, as to apportion punishment
to the offence against them: they are
considerate, merciful, and magnanimous. Another
story of an elephant, we think, occurs in one
of Mr. Broderip's books. A visitor to an
elephant at a fair, having given to him one by
one a number of good gingerbread-nuts,
thought it a good joke to end by giving him
at once a bag full of the hottest kind. The
elephant, distressed with pain, took bucket-
full after bucket-full of water, and the joker,
warned of his danger, had barely escaped
over the threshold before the bucket was
flung violently after his departing figure. A
year afterwards, the foolish fellow came again,
with gingerbread in one pocket and hot spice
in the other. He began with his donations
of gingerbread, and then modestly substituted
one hot nut. The moment it was tasted by
the elephant, the offender was remembered,
and caught up into the air by his clothes;
his weight tore them, and he fell, leaving the
elephant his tails and some part of his trousers.
The animal putting them on the floor set his
foot upon them, and having deliberately
picked out of the pockets and eaten all the
gingerbread that he considered orthodox, he
trod upon the rest, and threw the tails away.

The Cape baboons appear to have a tact
for battle, like the Caffres. Lieutenant Shipp
headed twenty men, to recapture sundry coats
and trousers stolen by a Cape baboon. He
made a circuit, to cut off the marauders from
their caverns; they observed him, and
detaching a small troop, to guard the entrance,
kept their posts. They could be seen
collecting large stones, under the active
superintendence of an old grey-headed baboon, who
appeared to be issuing his orders as a general.
The soldiers rushed to the attack, when
down came an avalanche of enormous stones,
and Britons left baboons the masters of the
situation.

Of monkey-tricks, the Indians have an
amusing fable. A man went on a journey
with a monkey and a goat, and he took with
him, for his refreshment, rice and curds.
Arrived at a tank, the man resolved to bathe
and dine. While he was in his bath, the
monkey ate his dinner, and, having wiped
his mouth and paws on the goat's beard, he
left the goat to settle his account. When the
man came out of the bath, and found his
dinner gone, it was quite easy to see, by the
goat's beard, who had stolen it.

The monkey was no ass. The sense of
asses is not rated very high; but that is a
mistake about them. They are shrewder
people than we take them for, and
kindhearted as well. A poor higgler, living near
Hawick, had an ass for his only companion
and partner in the business. The higgler,
being palsied, was accustomed to assist himself
often upon the road, by holding to the
ass's tail. Once, on their travels, during a
severe winter, man and ass were plunged into
a snow-wreath, near Rule Water. After a
hard struggle, the ass got out; but, knowing
that his helpless master was still buried, he
made his way to him, and placed himself so
that his tail lay ready to his partner's hand.
The higgler grasped it, and was dragged out
to a place of safety. Zoologically speaking,
it ought not to be thought disrespectful in a
man to call his friend " an ass."

Elephants, again. They show their good
taste, and are very fond of children. Dr.
Darwin says: The keeper of an elephant, in
his journey in India, sometimes leaves him
fixed to the ground by a length of chain,
while he goes into the woods to collect food
for him; and, by way of reciprocal attention
asks the elephant to mind his child—a child
unable to walk—while he is gone. The animal
defends it; lets it creep about his legs: and,
when it creeps to the extremity of the chain,